Eero Järnefelt

Eero Järnefelt is best known for his wide views of Finnish lakes and forested hills, especially around Koli in North Karelia, where he painted almost every year from 1892 until 1936. His landscapes are clear and still, with long horizons and blue distances.

He was born in Viipuri into a family of artists and writers. His sister Aino married the composer Jean Sibelius. He trained in Helsinki, at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg and at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he absorbed French naturalism. His most famous painting is Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood) of 1893, showing a young girl at hard labour. He taught drawing at the University of Helsinki for many years.

In his Koli paintings, such as Iltausva Kolilla, look for the layers of pale blue that carry the eye into the distance.